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Self-employment rises at double pace that of staff: report

Self-employment in Wales grew at twice the pace of growth in the number of people hired by an employer over the past five years, the Resolution Foundation said in its latest showed.

Showing the changing nature of self-employment in the UK, the think tank said in the report that the number of self-employed in Wales grew by 17,000 between 2008 and 2013. The number of people employed by a company/business grew by merely 8,000.

In the entire UK, the number of self-employed grew by 650,000 to 4.5 million during the same five-year period. Now, one in every seven workers in the UK is self-employed.

FSB Wales spokesperson Iestyn Davies said, "Where we have been used to seeing people employed by large employers, it is quite a shock to how things will be going."

Mr. Davies added that the unprecedented growth in the number of self-employed people could be partly due to the restructuring of Wales' economy. He stressed on the need for both the Welsh and the UK governments to ensure that funding schemes and welfare benefits are offered in such a way that these schemes aid the transition rather than leaving industries exposed to risks.

The report also warned that the unprecedented growth in the number of self-employed people could hamper attempts to encourage more and more people to put their savings into a pension scheme. As per available figures, more than half (52 per cent) of employees in the UK contribute to a pension scheme, while the figure for the self-employed slips to just 31 per cent.